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Take The Shot!
A friend’s manager just gave her notice. He doesn’t feel qualified to take his boss’ job yet, but her role is one he’d like to land eventually. Should he apply for it? There are many considerations, but in my opinion, yes, he should apply, for these reasons: Getting ready to submit an application to a job, even if you’re not fully qualified, nudges you to get in shape for other positions down the line. Thinking through your career goals, updating your resume, and actually sending in your materials are all positive steps. Applying for an internal opening signals upper management that you’re...
read moreEating “frogs”. A strategy for getting more done daily.
Mark Twain once said that we should eat a live frog the first thing every morning, because that would likely be the worst experience of the day, and we would benefit from getting it over with right away. Motivational expert Brian Tracy picked up on this notion and recommends identifying and acting on your most distasteful tasks—a.k.a. “frogs”—daily. And here I sit, penning this column, with a few frogs of my own chirping from the sidelines, waiting to be dealt with. They have to do with making some important phone calls, and could result in flat-out rejection, so I’m dreading them a bit. But...
read more4 steps to get you noticed for that next career opportunity!
In person, over the phone, on paper and electronically, you literally have just seconds to make a positive impression. A thoughtful shift in how you present yourself at the start could go a long way toward swaying results in your direction later on: In your cover: Address the letter to specific hiring managers, in human resources as well as within your functional specialty. If you’re unsure who that would be, call the company, or research contacts on LinkedIn.com. Be sure to confirm the gender of each contact, as many women now have men’s names. And always check that you’re spelling their...
read moreThe Power To Explore Career Growth
Recently I interviewed two professionals working at Colorado State University about their strategies for maintaining thriving careers. They’ve both worked at the institution for over 10 years, and while they like the stability an organization like CSU can offer, they’re also driven to keep their work interesting and expanding. This ties to the concept of wanting a level of certainty in our lives, such as having a predictable source of income and knowing our jobs well enough to do them successfully, while also desiring an element of uncertainty around, “What can I do next?” Achieving a...
read moreThe Secret To Career Confidence
“If you build it, they will come.” This quote from the movie Field of Dreams has application beyond the ball field. Recently a client asked for help re-entering a career he’d left during the recession. Having been out of the industry for a while, and being over 50, he was concerned that the switch would be tough if not impossible. But he was motivated to give it his best effort, so before applying to any positions, he put himself through some preparation paces: First he created an inventory of accomplishments relevant to his former line of work. This single step can deliver a huge boost in...
read moreInternship tips for a better future.
Our son JP is a junior in college, and hopes to land a computer science internship next summer. In this kind of situation, having a mother as a career counselor can be a blessing and a curse. “I can just sign up with the college’s internship system and see how it goes,” he informed me. Yet I know from experience that your first professional gig can have a huge impact on the rest of your career: what you start out doing can lead you down a long road of doing the same thing, whether you like it or not. Since computer programmers exist in nearly every sector, JP could be writing code for one...
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